Driving in automotive vehicles is become an increasingly quieter experience. For example, most vehicles utilize sound damping materials and passenger compartment designs to help isolate vehicle occupants from unwanted engine and road noise. Some automotive vehicles also include active noise cancellation or reduction systems to help provide a quieter and more peaceful driving experience. In addition to engine sounds and road rumble, other unwanted noises in the vehicle cabin can include wind noise, sounds from other vehicle occupants, and noise generated by the vehicle's heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit. Conversely, a number of performance vehicles augment or increase the engine sounds entering the vehicle cabin, for example, by sending the engine noise through the speakers of the vehicle with a preset gain. Regardless of the type of treatment, such noise cancellation or augmentation effects are typically applied uniformly throughout the vehicle cabin.
A few existing vehicle audio systems generate sound zones around one or more vehicle occupants, where each sound zone can be designed to include only desired audio signals and to exclude any unwanted audio or noise picked up within the vicinity of the occupant. For example, a first sound zone may include a volume around the ears of the vehicle driver, and a second sound zone may include a volume around the ears of one or more vehicle passengers. A user interface or control panel enables the user to define the boundaries of each sound zone, for example, through user-selection of pre-defined geometric shapes that represent the available sound zones, and to turn the sound zones on or off. The control panel also enables the user to select the audio sources to be played within each sound zone and to control a sound volume level for each sound zone. However, existing audio systems are not capable of providing individualized user control over the noise cancellation and augmentation features provided within each sound zone of the vehicle.
Accordingly, there is still a need in the art for vehicle systems and methods that can provide improved sound isolation within each sound zone of a vehicle cabin.